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Windows 7

Zygar

Master Poster
Z
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Oct 3, 2006
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Windows 7 has been RC1 for about a week. I'm completely happy with it. Anyone else out there using it?
 
I've been using the Beta and I've been happy with that. There's another thread about ithere somewhere. I have to wait until tomorrow for my copy of the RC.
 
I tried downloading the RC. Of course, I'm stubborn, and did so under Mac OS X. It was not a pleasant experience.

Microsoft did some things there that I typically only encounter on malware-ridden porn and cracks sites. Things like:

- Forcing their own download-manager (which is either Java or ActiveX, it says both!)
- Resizing the browser windows with no reason (something that I hate, and associate with malware/phishing sites). In typical Microsoft manner, the resized window is so small that the information (long file names) is displayed cut-off, in such a way that it's not helpful at all.
- Opening a webpage with helpful information, and immediately redirecting to the download manager, with me having no time to actually read it (after a few tries, I managed to stop the browser long enough to read. It mentions some alternate download method, but no link and no further information how to get to there).
- Stopping, or rather, not starting the download with a typical Microsoftian cryptic error message and no information on how to get help or alternate download sites or methods. No, it did not tell me at any point that my OS is the culprit, nor did it ask which OS I am running right now (at some point during the process the question of my primary client OS came up, which I answered truthfully with "Other").
- Stopping the download manager gives me the message "Download manager may be closed". Why not close it directly? You already did some nasty things before, why not clean up your mess?

In short, the whole thing looks very amateurish, and not worth of a billion-$-company trying to push one of their flagship products (not that I expected much from them). Though I'm hoping that the error is simply related to the first rush of too many people trying to get the thing.
 
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I've been using the Beta version for a good while now and have been quite impressed. However, I'm not going to bother with the RC, since reading the email about it indicated that I'd have to do a full clean install, and also do a full clean install of the actual release when it arrives.

I can only be bothered to do it once, so I'm happy to wait.

elgarak said:
not that I expected much from them.
Click to expand...

:rolleyes: It only took 4 posts before an Apple fan came in to give a good kicking. Is this a record?

We now only need a fierce argument about Linux distros to complete the set.
 
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There are two different download managers, one ActiveX and one Java. The ActiveX one is only used in IE, and has never given me any problems. The reason they use the download manager so much is because the combination of the various download mirrors not always being too reliable, unreliable client connections, and browsers with no functioning resume ability is less than ideal. I do agree that direct links should have been easily available though, and that their online services should be made more accessible for other browsers than IE.
 
What I find interesting is the return to version numbers after the model year attempt and the weird-name attempt. It's been since 3.1 that Windows had a version number.

My guess is they realized Mac OS never dropped its version numbers (despite adding the cat names), and it seems to work fine. They're always copying Apple in one way or another. ;) Would have been funny had they adoped a version number plus dog name system. Windows Husky (7.1). Windows Beagle (7.2).
 
They have found that selling something with a 2000 year date on it in 2003 isn't an easy job.

They have also found that people can resist a system that actually works OK (finally) because of a name associated with early problems, but that its easy to put out a dot-version and have people accept that its a different product.
 
Almo said:
What I find interesting is the return to version numbers after the model year attempt and the weird-name attempt. It's been since 3.1 that Windows had a version number.

My guess is they realized Mac OS never dropped its version numbers (despite adding the cat names), and it seems to work fine. They're always copying Apple in one way or another. ;) Would have been funny had they adoped a version number plus dog name system. Windows Husky (7.1). Windows Beagle (7.2).
Click to expand...

Nah. 7 sounds good in the english language (perhaps due to the idea of lucky 7) and they wanted to make as much of a marketing break from vista as they could.

Pure numbered versions tends to be more of a technical software thing (mediawiki for example is currently mediawiki 1.14).
 
Almo said:
What I find interesting is the return to version numbers after the model year attempt and the weird-name attempt. It's been since 3.1 that Windows had a version number.

My guess is they realized Mac OS never dropped its version numbers (despite adding the cat names), and it seems to work fine. They're always copying Apple in one way or another. ;) Would have been funny had they adoped a version number plus dog name system. Windows Husky (7.1). Windows Beagle (7.2).
Click to expand...
Maybe Windows Mongrel would be more appropriate as its made up of bits of other systems?
 
richardm said:
:rolleyes: It only took 4 posts before an Apple fan came in to give a good kicking. Is this a record?
.
Click to expand...
I was a 100% Windows user up until 1.5 years ago. Even then I would have complained about the stuff Microsoft did with this download and the download manager. Since the problem was not related to my OS at all. I finally got it to download, since I realized the problem: The DL manager did not delete the failed download, and tried the failed one over and over, instead of trying the new one I tried to start by shutting down and restarting the DL manager (which restarted with a supposedly empty download list). Despite the fact that the error message concluded with a "Do you want to start over? - Yes/No". Clicking "Yes" did not actually started over; even deleting the failed download from the list by hand still 'remembered' the failed one after restart.

It kinda reminded me of the old MS-DOS times, when DOS tried to read a damaged floppy disk: Retry, Abort, Ignore; and all three options took you to the same place.
 
richardm said:
We now only need a fierce argument about Linux distros to complete the set.
Click to expand...

What about OpenSolaris? ;)

I have pulled the RC image, but have not gotten around to tinkering with it yet. I have heard good things, however.
 
I have RC, and after I undock and re-dock my laptop, the desktop fails to extend to the second monitor. I have to reboot. :(
 
The semi-opaque objects like the title bar and the task bar sometimes flicker on and off at irregular intervals.

Is Windows 7 trying to tell me something?

Does anyone know Morse code?
 
Bikewer said:
They were reporting this morning:

http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/operatingsystems/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=217300204

That the "Release Candidate" version would be available and could be used till next year for free.

If I wanted to play with the thing, would I have to install it in a separate partition? Or, would it just pop up on the startup screen as a boot-up choice?
Click to expand...
Well, there are a couple of ways to try it out.

One is to install it inside a virtual machine like VirtualBox. This will make it run inside a window in your existing Windows installation. The performance won't be great though, and you won't be able to use the fancy GUI effects.

The other way is to install it in a way that will let the computer boot straight into Windows 7. There are a couple of ways of achieving this:

1) Make a clean install of Windows 7, overwriting everything that is currently on your hard drive.
2) Upgrade your current version of Windows to Windows 7. This will keep your existing programs and files, but get rid of your existing OS. In other words, you won't be able to boot into it or get it back when the Release Candidate expires. If you want to get rid of it, you have to reinstall something else.
3) If you're running Vista, open Disk Management, make the partition you currently have smaller and then make a new partition in the free space. You can then pick this partition in the Windows 7 installer and end up with a dual boot system that gives you a menu when you turn it on and lets you choose which OS.
4) Install Windows 7 to a virtual hard disk image on your existing partition. In other words have Windows 7 boot from a file called something like C:\mywin7test.vhd instead of a real partition. This will give you the same setup as in 3, except that you'll have a slight decrease in disk performance in Windows 7 (because its disk is emulated). Performance wise it's still more than good enough to play around with. The catch though, is that installing it this way is slightly more complicated and involves a quick visit to the command line:

When you boot the Windows 7 DVD, but before clicking "Install now", press shift+F10. This will give you a command line. From here, run "diskpart" and wait for the DiskPart> prompt to appear. Here type "list vol" and find the drive letter of the partition you want the virtual disk image on. Most likely it'll be either C: or D:.

Then type

Code: 
create vdisk file="C:\mywin7test.vhd" maximum=20480
This creates a 20GB big virtual disk where Windows 7 wil live. You can specify a different size if you want. Once it's done creating it, you attach it to the installer by typing:

Code: 
select vdisk file="C:\mywin7test.vhd"
attach vdisk

You can then exit DiskPart by typing "exit" and close the command prompt. Now, click "Install now" and then "Custom (advanced)".

In the list of partitions it shows you, pick the one that is really our new virtual disk. You can probably tell by looking at the size and seeing if it's 20GB. Most likely it will be the last item in the list. If you see a message at the bottom saying that Windows can't be installed on this disk, just ignore it and hit Next, it'll still work.

From here on the install is no different from if you had installed it on an actual partition. When it's done, you'll get a new boot menu with the items "Windows 7" and "Earlier version of Windows". The first is your new Windows 7 installation while the latter will be your "real" OS.
 
I tried downloading it.
After about 4 minutes of a green dot orbiting, the download screen froze.
Repeated 3 times. Ditto.
Anyone else have this problem?
 
aggle-rithm said:
I have RC, and after I undock and re-dock my laptop, the desktop fails to extend to the second monitor. I have to reboot. :(
Click to expand...

I think I've figured out how to fix this. Either that, or it randomly started working on its own.

You have to move the mouse cursor over to the second monitor, then it "wakes up".
 
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